1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to liquid ejection methods and liquid ejection apparatuses.
2. Related Art
Inkjet printers are known as one example of liquid ejection apparatuses that carry out printing by ejecting ink from nozzles onto various media such as paper, cloth, and film. Among inkjet printers there are serial printers, in which an image is accomplished while nozzles (a head) move in a direction intersecting a transport direction of a medium, and line head printers, which have a nozzle row (a head) of a length of a width of the medium and in which an image is accomplished by transporting only the medium without moving the head (JP-A-2002-240300).
In this regard, in order to prevent thickening of ink in the nozzle vicinity, generally an operation (flushing) is carried out in which ink is caused to be ejected without any relation to an image to be printed. With serial printers, the head is small and movable, and therefore an ink collecting container can be provided outside the print area for the ink used in flushing. On the other hand, with line head printers, the head is large and a new contrivance is required to collect the ink used in flushing.
Accordingly, methods are proposed in which a wide width medium transport belt and a narrow width transport belt are used such that the head and the ink collecting container are in opposition to each other through a gap of the narrow width transport belt (JP-A-2005-103884). Printing operations are stopped undesirably when flushing is carried out. For example, in the case of the line head printer, the positioning of the transport belt may be adjusted so that the head and the ink collecting container are brought in opposition to each other between the narrow width transport belts, and in the case of the serial printer, the head may be moved outside the print area to carry out flushing. Due to this, the flushing time is lengthened such that the printing time is also lengthened undesirably.